Nigeria's Okonjo-Iweala to head struggling world trade body

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Monday to head the leading international trade body as it seeks to to resolve disagreements over how it decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs.

Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as director-general of the World Trade Organization by representatives of the 164 member countries, according to a statement from the body.

The appointment came after new U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed her candidacy, which had been blocked by former President Donald Trump.

Biden's move was a step toward his aim of supporting more cooperative approaches to international problems after Trump's “America first” approach that launched multiple trade disputes.

But unblocking the appointment is only the start in dealing with trade disputes launched by Trump, and in resolving U.S. concerns about the WTO that date to the Obama administration. The U.S. had blocked the appointment of new judges to the WTO's appellate body, essentially freezing its ability to resolve extended and complex trade disputes.

The U.S. government has argued that the trade organization is slow-moving and bureaucratic, ill-equipped to handle the problems posed by China's state-dominated economy and unduly restrictive on U.S. attempts to impose sanctions on countries that unfairly subsidize their companies or export at unusually low prices.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration reversed Trump's opposition and expressed “strong support’’ for Okonjo-Iweala and saying she “brings a wealth of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy." She is the first African official and the first woman to hold the job.

Okonjo-Iweala, formerly Nigeria's finance minister, had a 25-year career at the World Bank, where she rose to...